The town of Santa María del Puerto Príncipe stands out for its Andalusian architecture, with strong Mudejar influences in the residences and in the main buildings of the Historic Center. Today the city of Camagüey, the patrimonial jewel figures as a town full of mystery and singularity due to its historical richness and peculiar location between two rivers, delimited by its natural borders and not walls in the 16th century. Whether in the outlying neighborhood of La Caridad or in the core of the old town, popular and religious festivities in the city confer annual enthusiasm to the population, when activities such as raids, boar hunting and horse races even reach from the territorial margins to the famously narrow streets where influential aristocratic families resided in the economy and culture, some of which marked the identity of the Cuban nation in a decisive way.

Founded by Diego Velázquez in 1514 on the north coast and after several relocations fi nally moved in 1528 to its present-day location at the centre of the province, the settlement of Saint Mary of the Port of the Prince received the title of city by the end of 1817. Known among Cubans as the City of the Large Earthenware Jars (tinajones), it was renamed to Camagüey in 1903, a word of aboriginal origin, symbol of resistance and independence. Its historic centre, one of the largest in the country with 330.9 hectares, treasures buildings and monuments with high historical, architectural and environmental values amidst an urban tissue of peculiar layout formed by irregular blocks and big religious buildings linked to a complex and unusual system of squares that beautify the city and remain connected by winding streets and alleys with a clear medieval look. 

The Carmen and Saint John of God squares are at present the best preserved spaces dating from the 18th century. Their architectural values are also linked to the traditional domestic architecture with prevalence of construction materials and techniques related to the extensive use of clay elements: bricks, floor tiles, roof tiles and large jars to keep water, as well as several kinds of gable roofs, truncated pilasters and nicely-crafted eaves under the main doors and inner arches. 

In 1978 the city was declared National Monument as a main piece of Cuba’s cultural heritage and in 2008 the 54-hectare old core with the fi ve spaces that marked its origin (Agramonte Park, Carmen Square, Saint John of God Square, Worker’s Square and Martí Park) was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This acknowledgment also distinguished the exceptional nature of an architectural ensemble that blends harmonically the built-up heritage with the revaluation of contemporary spaces and interventions; it is also a human habitat and representative of a culture full of legends, customs and traditions. 

The wise mixture of past and modernity and an intense social and cultural life that bear witness to its cultural roots and its rich intangible heritage turn Camagüey’s historic centre not only into a must-see, but also into a site of peculiar urban identity.